A Long Road: A Homestuck AU
by theorangetwin
Summary: Nepeta and Equius have been friends for life, but let's face it; they live two completely different lives, from their houses down to the food they eat. He wants to stop her from getting her self in too deep. She doesn't want to bother him with her problems. Can they do it? Chapter 4 posted!
1. Chapter 1

Hello :33 So this is a new Homestuck AU idea that I had. This chapter is a little short, but hopefully I can update weekly, along with my other Soul x Maka fanfiction that I am writing. Anyway, enjoy the first chapter. :33

**disclaimer: I do not own Homestuck.**

* * *

Night has fallen in the suburbs. A dimly lit house holds a sleepy Equius, who, after a long day at school, finally decides to lay his head down to rest. He shuts the lights off, and as he lies down, his head slowly hits his fluffy blue pillow, and begins to drift into sleep.

*clink clink*

'_No.'_ Equius thought. '_Now of all times? You couldn't have come sooner?' _With reluctance he pushed himself away from his wonderful, warm bed, and walked to the window that was being assaulted by tiny pebbles. He knew who was waking him so late at night; this isn't the first time it's happened. He opened his window, and with sarcasm he said, "You know, you _are_ allowed to use the front door." He looked down, and there stood a little Nepeta, with her tattered clothes that are 3 sizes too large for her. She had her usual bright smile, despite the fact that she's standing in cold, wet grass, shoe-less at 2am.

"I know! But it's more fun this way! It's like a fairytale or something!"

"It's called Romeo &amp; Juliet, dummy. Now come inside before you get hypothermia."

"Yes, sir!" With a happy face, Nepeta flung the rest of the pebbles she was holding into the air, and marched happily to the front door.

Equius dragged himself slowly down the stairs, and to the front door. There stood a cheery Nepeta, waiting patiently for her best friend.

"Equius!" she shouted.

He winced at the loudness of her voice. "Quiet down. It's way too late at night for you to be this happy." He motioned for her to come inside, and she skipped into the house. "You're lucky I live alone, or else my parents would kill you."

Narrator: You see, Equius is part of the higher class. His parents own their own house (more like mansion), and they decided that Equius was old enough to have his own small house next to theirs. Many people can't even fathom the wealth of the Zahhak family. The only people who know the extent of his wealth are his close friends, who are all significantly less rich than him. His best and sometimes only friend is Nepeta, who lives quite the opposite life, but enough back story for now, let's see what those crazy two are up to.

"Enough fun for now, let's go to bed please?" said Equius, staring at the board game that Nepeta had pulled out from his closet. They had played four rounds, and Nepeta was setting up for another round. "Come on, Equius! Where's your spirit? One more round please?"

"No, Nepeta-"

"But, Equius, please I-"

"**Nepeta." **He shouted. Nepeta looked up at him with sad eyes. He knew she had finally given up. Equius got up slowly, abandoning the game, and scooped Nepeta into his arms, bringing her to his bedroom, and laying her down into his bed. "You sleep here, okay?" A frightened look crossed her face. "B-but Equius, where are you gonna sleep?"  
"I'll be right downstairs in the living room, okay? Come get me if you need anything."

Equius turned away from the bedside and walked to the door, shutting off the lights before he disappeared downstairs into the dark.  
Nepeta pulled the blankets up towards her head, and curled herself into a ball. She closed her eyes as tight as she could and tried to imagine positive, totally non-nightmarish things, but to no avail. She couldn't stop shaking, and couldn't keep her eyes shut. After just 15 minutes of lying in bed, she couldn't take it anymore. She jumped up, grabbed a blanket and ran downstairs. But something stopped her.

There was Equius, sound asleep on the couch. She had kept him up for another 3 hours, even though he kept telling her he wanted to sleep. He had the TV on, which made Nepeta feel guilty, but happy. '_He left the TV on for me.' _Equius knows that Nepeta doesn't like to sleep in the dark, although he's trying to break her from it. '_He probably knew I was going to come down here. I can't let him down again.' _With her head down and tears in her eyes, Nepeta slowly walked back upstairs to the bedroom to spend another restless night until Equius awoke once again.


	2. Chapter 2

Ahhh, morning! After Equius got 3 semi-decent hours of sleep, and Nepeta received absolutely none, it was finally time to wake up. Since Equius was already downstairs, he decided breakfast was in order; bacon and eggs and toast, and some exquisite milk, just for Nepeta. He seemed extra skipper for some reason, despite only sleeping a few hours on his uncomfortable couch, as he flitted around the kitchen from the fridge to the stove and back again. Little footsteps patted the stairs as Nepeta slowly descended. "*yawn*" she exclaimed, while stretching her limbs.

"Good morning, Equius, you're up early."

"'Morning, Nep. How'd you sleep?" He said, obviously not entirely awake yet.

"Like a dream. My little cat naps don't compare." She giggled. A look of relief crossed Equius' face. "I'm glad you slept well."

He then returned to his cooking, turning off the stove and taking the pans off the heat. "Nepeta, can you grab a couple of plates and set them on the table? Some glasses too?" "Sure, thing!" She gladly hopped over to the cabinet and grabbed two plates from the shelf.

*CRASH*

Equius whipped around to find Nepeta on the ground surrounded by broken porcelain, rubbing her head. "Nepeta!" He ran over and grabbed her arm, yanking her off the ground and onto the other side of the broken glass. "What's wrong with you? Are you alright?" "Yeah, I'm okay." She looked down to see that her finger was spotted with blood. "You're bleeding!" He quickly ran upstairs to grab a towel, but before he made it back downstairs, Nepeta had called for him. "Ummm, Equius? I think you should come back down here."

_'What? Why?'_ He ran back down stairs, to find that Nepeta had begun bleeding even more, with a stream of blood dripping down her hand. "What the hell?" He shouted. This time he actually got a towel, and pulled her out to the car. "Where are we going?" She looked worried. She knew what his answer was going to be.  
"The hospital."  
"What?! No, you can't take me to the hospital. I hate hospitals. Equius please don't make me go." She exclaimed.  
"Nepeta, I understand that you don't like hospitals, but I'd rather make you uncomfortable than have you bleed to death. Understood?" He was using his "stern voice", the one that Nepeta didn't like. With a 'hmph' she sat back in her seat. "Fine." she whimpered, and off they went.

*later at the hospital*

"So, why was her finger bleeding so badly, Doctor?"

"Her blood pressure was ridiculously high. It often causes excessive bleeding, and a lot of times is caused by emotions. I'm going to assume that's the case here, because we did a quick check on her, and everything else is fine. Is she stressed out, not eating, not sleeping?" It wasn't hard to figure out which it was._ 'Damn it, Nepeta.'_ He wasn't mad, per se, just worried about her health. Although, he was a little mad that she lied to him about sleeping. "Thank you, Doctor."  
He walked back into the room, where Nepeta was lying, intently watching cartoons. He walked over to her bedside and sat in the chair there, and turned off the TV before she could protest. Nepeta turned to him. "Hey-!" Before she could finish Equius flicked her nose. She grasped her face.  
"Ow!"  
"That was for lying to me. Nepeta, when was the last time you actually slept?" First she looked shocked, and then she looked down at her hands, not answering Equius. "Why don't you sleep at home? You have a TV in your room don't you? There's no reason for you to not be sleeping, Nepeta. Answer me." He grabbed her face and pulled it up, but what faced him wasn't Nepeta. What faced him was a scared, lonely, teary-eyed girl who couldn't even tell her best friend what was wrong, and it scared him. "Equius..." There was a long pause between the both of them, causing Equius' faith in his ability to help Nepeta to drop dramatically, before she began speaking again.

"I got kicked out of my house!" She said suddenly. Nepeta was as surprised as Equius when she said that. She had been waiting 2 months to tell him, and she didn't think it would happen like that.

"You were kicked out of your house? Why didn't you tell me? You know you're always welcome to stay with me." he shouted. He took a deep breath, regaining his composure. _'She's already upset; try not to yell at her.'_

"Nepeta, why didn't you tell me?" he said, softer this time.

"Because I had it all under control. I still do have it under control. Just, some nights I need to stay at your place." She exasperated.

"So, where are you staying when you aren't at my house?"

"A friend's house. You met him once, right? His name is Karkat. He's really cool once you get to know him. I'll even ask if I can bring show you were he lives and everything. Does that sound okay?" She said the last part quietly.

Equius thought about it for a minute. _'Well, I could just tell her to stay at my place and be over with it. No, I have to give her a chance to live on her own. She seems pretty happy, and as long as I can keep an eye on her, I don't see the harm in meeting the guy.'_

"Okay, deal. But you have to promise me something. You **will** come to me if there's anything wrong at all, got it?"

Her smile stretched across her whole face as she reached across the bed and hugged him. "Thank you, Equius! I promise I won't let you down."

*the next day*

Equius and Nepeta strolled down a cracked path in the middle of the city, leading to a destination unknown to Equius. Growing up in that lifestyle Equius did, he had never personally walked the streets that he had driven by so many times in his expensive car. '_It's like a new world out here.'_ Without the car windows to shield his view, the streets seemed so much more…. dead. He glared at Nepeta, who seemed her usual self as she guided Equius down several streets and sketchy looking alleyways, thinking, _'How is she okay with all of this trash a-and this, dirt?'. _

While Equius was deep in thought, he hadn't realized that Nepeta had reached her destination. "Here we are! Home." Where she pointed to was a small, slightly beaten apartment building. Just by the look of it, Equius knew he wasn't going to enjoy this.

They entered the apartment building, and took in their surroundings. While Nepeta was quite content, Equius was not. "It's on the third floor." They began their ascent to the third floor, Equius regretting every step. Finally, they reached the last room on floor three, which even from the outside looked more dingy than the rest. With a quick rap on the door, there was no turning back now.

The door opened up to reveal a mop of messy black hair, and a rather displeased face beneath it.

"Why'd you knock? Don't you have a key?" said Karkat. You could practically feel the air between Equius and Nepeta become tenser, Nepeta knowing exactly what Equius was thinking. He already did not like the way Karkat spoke to Nepeta, but before he said anything, he stopped himself. '_I can't be mean. I have to be nice for Nepeta.' _ Thankfully, Nepeta stepped in. She scratched the back of her head and laughed playfully. "I guess I left it here again. Silly me."

"Just don't forget it next time, okay? Because you know, you do live here." He said the last part with a smirk, and Nepeta let out a small giggle. "Well, come on in!" exclaimed Nepeta. She dragged Equius inside the small apartment and shut the door behind him, making him feel that much more uncomfortable. "So this is where I live. This is Karkat, obviously." she pointed to Karkat, who returned to his place on the couch, "This is his apartment, but he lets me stay here. We've been friends since elementary school. Well, actually, he's a few years older than me." Equius glared at Nepeta. He did not like the idea of her living with an older boy, but once again he decided to let it go.

They took a "tour" of the apartment and they all talked for a little while. Afterwards, Equius actually felt alright with Nepeta staying here. "I'm entrusting her to you, Vantas." said Equius, as he shook Karkat's hand. He sounded less like her friend, and more like her dad. "Umm, thanks, I guess."

Nepeta gave Equius a huge hug, and just as she was about to open the door, it swung open and hit the wall rather forcefully. Equius looked questioningly at Nepeta, whose expression became serious. "Oh, Equius," she said rather shakily (no normal friend could catch on to it, except for maybe Equius and Karkat) "This is Gamzee. He's also staying here with us."

'_Absolutely. Not.'_


	3. Chapter 3

_"Absolutely not."_

This easily measured up to just about the worst possible situation. Well, at least to Equius. He didn't understand it. Out of all places, here?

Equius was an unstoppable force, known by some as a thing of legends. He conquered all aspects: money, looks, business, brains; anything. But this? This wasn't part of his future. This was something he was not ready for, not by a long shot.

"Hey, I know you, don't I?" slurred Gamzee to Equius. Most people would think there was something wrong with him, like drugs or alcohol. Only people he spent time with could truly tell that this was simply his way of life. Well, no one's saying he _isn't_ on drugs, simply that he doesn't need them. "Man, I swear I know you from somewhere." He slumped against the door frame with a puzzled look about him.

"Me?" squeaked Equius. It was rather surprising for everyone in the room. Equius quickly composed himself, clearing his throat and straightening his back, and tried once more. "Me? I, uh, I don't think so, no." It was obvious to see that Equius was quickly losing himself, so Nepeta decided to create a diversion.

"Welp, Equius was just leaving, weren't you, Equius?" She didn't give him time to answer as she forcibly pushed him past Gamzee and out into the dark hallway. "See ya later!" She flung the door shut with force, causing it to reverberate throughout the hall.

Equius stood bent over in the hallway for a good time, unable to properly assess the situation at hand. What will he do? Will he figure out who I am? Then, if he does, will Nepeta be safe? He was thinking a million things at once, and therefore did not hear the door open once more.

"Equius…. Equius~…."

_'Oh thank goodness, just the person I need._' His head shot up, excited to see his moirail.

Wrong.

"Nice to motherfuckin' see you again, bro." he muttered, and quietly shut the door behind him, leaving Equius in the dark.

_*Flashback*_

As you all know, the Zahhak family is quite rich. _Very _quite rich. Not only were they very quite rich, but they were loved and admired by all their peers, even those who were of much higher status than they. Little Equius was especially adored, exactly for the reason why many don't like him now: his superior and bold attitude. Back then it was cute, but now it's quite annoying.

Our small protagonist was playing with his toys at one of his families big get-togethers, where his parents invite all their friends, and they socialize and talk about adult things; things Equius was not old enough to understand. While enjoying his alone time with his small horse figurines in his very quite expensive suit, out of the blue came a looming shadow. Equius looked up at the face from behind is hair, trying to hide his intimidation.

"Hey, can I play with you?" said the figure.

Equius stood up to get a better look at the shadowy blob, and discovered a strange looking boy. He had shaggy black hair, and a very calm look. Well, calm, despite the weirdly designed white and gray face paint he had on. This is what confused Equius the most. '_Who would do something like that?' _thought Equius. While he was busy silently criticizing the boy, he didn't realize that he had taken the horse figure out of his hand and began to play with it.

Equius was in complete shock. Not only did a child get his toy taken away, but this was no ordinary child. This was Equius Zahhak, who came from a prestigious family, and damn well knew it too. Since he always got his way, and didn't have much experience with other children, he began to do what any child would do; he began to cry.

He grabbed part of the toy, and began to pull forcefully. If the boys didn't attract attention to them before with Equius' loud wailing, they sure did when when Gamzee struck Equius, causing the well-disputed over toy to break in the process. At this point, both the Makara's and the Zahhak's had rushed over, and quickly pulled apart their quarreling sons. Equius began throwing quite the fit, and Gamzee right back at him. After their parents had calmed them down, they plopped them down in front of each other's pouty faces and forced them to apologize to each other. With much regret, they did, but their relationship was never the same. From that day onward, Equius never trusted Gamzee, and Gamzee made sure to keep it that way.

This, my friends, is where our story began.

_*Current day*_

After finally dragging himself home, Equius had had quite the day.

_'No more.'_ he thought. He slowly made his was upstairs, having his fill of this day.

He crashed down onto his bed, not even bothering to change out of his sweaty clothes.

*BOOM BOOM BOOM*

_'Please, no more. I can not take anymore of this nonsense today.'_

_*BOOM BOOM BOOM*_

_"_I don't care who this is, this will surely make me unhappy."

He trudged downstairs and flung open the door, and sure enough, there she was.

Equius silently cursed himself, wondering how he'll ever get any sleep.

*the next day*

Nepeta had once again spent the night at Equius' house, but still spent the entire night awake. This time, however, so did Equius. He was so shaken by the previous days events, that no matter what, he couldn't sleep. He tried turning off the TV (but left a lamp on for Nepeta), doing a little light exercising, and even drank a couple glasses of warm milk.

_'What is happening to me? This has never happened before. What am I so afraid of?' _he questioned himself.

Even though he asked this question, he knew the answer. He was afraid of the past, and every black day that lead up to now. He had gotten away, but it seems that it will follow him forever. '_You shouldn't be __afraid of him. He can't. . ."_

He strained to think of something that Gamzee _couldn't_ do, but unfortunately nothing came to mind. Equius may be the strongest of the strong, but Gamzee is just plain sadistic. He could think of the cruelest fate possible, torture beyond belief, and still barely move a muscle. The thought of it made Equius cringe

'_Well, let's think here, I haven't done anything to anger him yet. I'm still safe. I think. I mean, he did get the last proverbial laugh in our previous quarrel, so it isn't like he has any scores to settle, right? As long as I stay away from him, I should be safe.' _He thought these things half-heartedly, knowing that this was not a permanent solution to his problem. He decided to stop thinking about it, and do something productive, so he went to the kitchen and began making breakfast for Nepeta and himself.

After 45 minutes of cooking up a delightful breakfast, he decided to call Nepeta down.

"Nepeta! Time to eat. Come down at once." He shouted up the stairs. When there was no reply, he shouted again.

"Nepeta if you are not downstairs in the next 5 seconds than I am eating your breakfast and you will eat nothing." Still no response.

_'Darn it, Nepeta'_, he thought. '_Fine, will go upstairs and drag her down myself.'_

He angrily marched upstairs, upset that Nepeta would even think about disobeying him. _'There better be a good reason for this nonsense.' _He threw open the bedroom door, to find a very unexpected sight.

She was asleep.

Equius stood motionless for a second, taken back by the sight. '_Why am I shocked by this? She is a human being after all. Human beings sleep. However . . . I can not recall the last time I saw Nepeta asleep. Have I ever seen her sleep?' _This sudden realization made him lean on his desk for support, completely dumfounded. "How have I never seen her sleep?" he whispered to himself. Nepeta stirred, which frightened him. He stood straight up, sweating nervously that he may be accused of something "lood". "I- I wasn't watching you sleep!" he said, his voice cracking slightly. After a few seconds, he looked down to realize she was in fact not awake.

"Whew."

"mm. . . Equius?" said Nepeta, taking a long stretch.

"Ahh! Nepeta, you're awake! I just came to umm, check on you." he looked down at his hands, embarrassed. "Well, I guess you're awake now come down for breakfast I'll let you wake up some more bye." He said this in one hurried breath as he walked towards the door, but before he could make it, a small hand grasped the back of his shirt and yanked him backwards. Now, it's unsure if his guard was down due to embarrassment, or because he knew it was Nepeta that was doing this, but he simply let himself fall backwards onto the bed without a struggle.

He looked to his right to find Nepeta's face _very_ close to his. Although he wanted to move away, he could see that she was comfortable, and didn't want to disturb her.

Equius could tell that they were going to be there for a long time, so he pulled himself the rest of the way onto his bed, and wrapped his arm around Nepeta.

As the two were drifting off to sleep, the last thought that drifted through Equius' head: Our breakfast is going to be cold.


	4. Chapter 4

_I have no forward for this Chapter, just that I haven't updated in a while. Enjoy_

~ Momo Oni †

* * *

Although their nap was heavenly, waking up was slightly awkward. When Equius opened his eyes, nothing but black hair filled his vision. As he became more aware of himself, he realized one arms was sprawled over Nepeta's side, while one was underneath her, both holding her to his chest. Their legs were intertwined as well; Equius' long, muscular legs intimately caressed Nepeta's small but also muscular ones. Her hair smelled of cigarettes and his cologne, which made his mouth hint at a smile. Equius was too dazed to ponder the idea that Nepeta doesn't smoke. Drearily he thought, '_Vantas, I wish, for your safety, that you are not smoking around Nepeta.' _Finally, is head cleared enough to notice that he should probably reposition himself before Nepeta wakes up.

He attempted to slide his legs out first, but quickly found that Nepeta was too comfortable to give up her snuggle partner. Like a viper (to most people), she squeezed her legs together, refusing Equius his freedom. As I said, to most people, this would have had people begging for mercy in seconds, but since this was Equius we were talking about, he easily removed his legs, sliding them to the edge of the bed. He sighed. _'Now to remove my arms. This will prove to be harder than it looks.' _He was completely right. When he attempted to wiggle his arm out from underneath her, she crushed it with her own against her rib cage, just enough to incapacitate him. She began to catch on, because before Equius could even flex his other arm, Nepeta grabbed it, and pressed that, too, to her abdomen. Equius furrowed his eyebrows in frustration, silently cursing Nepeta. He thought of another idea, and tried to maneuver his way out, taking his time with extracting his arms, but ended up accidentally grabbing one of her breasts in the process. He blushed furiously, thankful that Nepeta was not facing him. Accepting defeat, he relaxed and accepted the fact that he's going to be here for a while. After about 30 or so seconds passed, Nepeta began to stir slightly, and eventually rose into a sitting position. She turned to him, mid-yawn, "Ahhh, g-morning, Equius. Man, I'm hungry, what's there to eat?" She stood up from the bed and made her way downstairs. Equius, after looking down at his hands in astonishment, quickly rushed after.

Equius and Nepeta slowly descended the stairwell, stretching their refreshed and relaxed muscles. Equius experimented with their cold and stale breakfast, hoping to revive it somehow. All he could salvage was the pieces of bacon, the pot of corned beef hash, and a couple pieces of toast. They sat across from each other, looking down at their sad meal, before hesitantly digging in. Equius sighed, "I know it isn't much, but I promise I'll buy us something to eat later, okay?" He went to take another bite when Nepeta interjected. "Ah, actually, I have other plans today." Equius looked at her with a puzzled expression; _'Plans? Nepeta doesn't make plans. What could she possibly have to do today?' _Instead of thinking about it, he figured he might as well ask. "Well, I promised Karkat that today I would help clean up around the apartment, go grocery shopping, and actually cook dinner for once. Sorry to cancel our plans before they were even made . . ." She looked down with a disappointed expression; she didn't want to go "home", she wanted to be with Equius, even though it was obvious that she had a serious thing for Karkat. Seeing how down she looked, he reached across the table and put his hand over hers, trying to comfort her. "It's alright, Nepeta. This is good. You should do a manual labor every once in a while. It might teach you some humility." Nepeta 'humphed' in disagreement, and sat back in her chair. To herself, she whimpered "I hate it there."

* * *

Later on, after Nepeta and Karkat had successfully trekked through the grocery store by themselves, they made their way back to the apartment. They survived the three floor climb with hands full of grocery bags. Although Karkat wouldn't let her know, he was very thankful that Nepeta was here to help him; this was usually something he had to do on his own. As they reached the door, they instantly smelled a horrible, skunky smell oozing from inside. Karkat gave Nepeta a concerned look, worried for her safety. He really did care about her, but it's just harder to show emotions, especially to Nepeta. He knows how she feels about him, and it isn't as if he _rejects _her feelings, but he's just not sure how to feel about it. It's neutral.

Karkat dug in his pocket for the keys, and pulled out a long lanyard. He unlocked the door with an echoing click. Upon opening, a cloud of smoke flew from the door and drifted down the hallway eerily. Karat and Nepeta waved their hands in front of their faces, due to both the smell and the smoke. They entered the house, and found a sight for sore eyes. Gamzee lay slack on the couch; a vacant look in his eyes and a blunt between his fingers. The sight of drugs never made Nepeta particularly uncomfortable, but when it came to Gamzee, it terrified her. When Gamzee was on drugs, it opened so many possibilities to how the night would end, and the chances that Nepeta emerged unscathed were slim. As Gamzee stared blankly at the TV, she scurried into the room, back to the wall, and slowly made her way to the kitchen. Putting her grocery bags on the floor, she hurriedly tidied up the kitchen in hopes that she could escape to her room without Gamzee noticing her. In just 5 minutes time, she helped put some of the groceries away, cleaned off the table, and cleaned the counters, buzzing around Karkat like a bee.

After she decided that the kitchen was clean enough, she approached Karkat, and whispered to him, "Hey, Karkat, do you mind if I just clean my room for now? I'll come out later and help you clean the living room, and I'll even clean the bathroom by myself. Just, please?" Karkat wasn't great at reading people, but Nepeta wasn't exactly a closed book either. His gaze briefly flicked over to Gamzee's limp limbs practically melting off of the couch. He looked back up at Nepeta and gave a short nod. She hugged him tightly and quickly flee to her room, making sure to keep her eye on Gamzee as she cautiously passed him. After she was sure she had made it, she sprinted, afraid he was going to jump up and chase her, and shut the door behind her. She breathed a sigh of relief with her back against the door and made her way to the stereo. She clicked her MP3 Player to life then plugged it into the speakers, pumping out Cherri Bomb's "Too Many Faces" into the small room. Nepeta began to clean off her bed in attempts to make it; it was the only thing in the room that was really dirty. Well, there was some garbage lying around, along with a large stack of movies she watched with Karkat. Other than that, since she hadn't lived here for long and didn't spend much time here, there was no real mess to be cleaned; Karkat knew that. After successfully wiping all of the crumbs and dirt particles off of her bed, she grabbed her blanket and began to spread it out over her bed, flipping it into the air, and slowly let it fall back down. Honk.

Nepeta dropped the blanket before it could reach the bed, letting it float to the ground. He stood there, dormant, looking at Nepeta with a cocked head but indifferent expression. His arms hung loosely at his sides, as if her were a zombie. "G-Gamzee! I, uh. I didn't hear the door open." She chuckled nervously, but never broke eye contact with him. He leisurely strolled over to the stereo, extending his hand to the volume button, but hovered over it. "I guess your music was just a little too loud." He turned the music up, until he was sure that nothing but music would be heard by Karkat. He stepped over to her, and she moved back until her heels hit the wall. "You know Nepeta, you've been avoiding me a lot lately. You haven't cleaned my room, or even made me lunch in a while. I'm starting to feel like you don't like me." He brushed a strand of hair behind her ear, and leaned in, whispering softly. "That's not true right." He lightly breathed into her ear; it took all of her strength not to shrink away from him or flinch, which would only provoke him. He suddenly took hold of her wrists and threw her into the wall behind her. She heard a rib crack on impact, but she was so scared that she didn't feel it, which terrified her even more. She slumped to the ground unable to move away from Gamzee's foot that swung towards her side. He always struck her where it would be covered by her clothes. Basically, nothing on the arms or above her chest, but this is where it hurt the most. As Nepeta began to feel herself slipping, she could only think about how angry Equius would be at her if he found out this was happening. _'I'm sorry.'_


End file.
